The Halifax Regional Municipality up in Canada is getting more serious about climate action and stopping air pollution in its borders. The municipality has plans to put $780 million into getting the 210 electric buses onto the road and 3 new ferry routes into service by 2028.
The COVID-19 crisis has shown that effective public transport is vital to keeping cities running. By serving essential workers in health care, emergency services, food services, and other sectors, public transport has become a service not just for some people but for all urban residents.
Earlier this week, Volvo took another step towards reducing city bus emissions by upgrading its S-Charge buses with more electric only speed and range.
Public transit has often been hailed as a green way to lower your carbon footprint. When I lived in Atlanta back on 2007, the public system there, MARTA, capitalized on its name with the catchphrase “Marta is Smarta,” meaning that it is smarter to use public transit than it is to drive and be stuck in traffic. However, Atlanta is a city that has a great public transportation system.
Mass transit, and especially electric mass transit, are top solutions for a variety of transportation challenges. It provides solutions to traffic congestion, pollution, and inequity. Many people who choose buses, walking, subways, and mass transit, do so — to avoid the stress of traffic. They are an antidote to some of the biggest negative side effects of car culture.
The French city of Dunkirk recently implemented a change rather unusual around the world. Have you ever waited in the rain on a bus? You struggle with your umbrella, then you have to dig for change or your ticket. Or, if you are in a city like Atlanta, perhaps your Breeze Card makes paying your fare an easier move. But Dunkirk found a better way:
A new startup, called Landline, is going to experiment with operating fleets of buses as if they were regional airlines, and this approach has a lot of potential to expand bus ridership while reducing air travel to and from the smallest cities.
My previous article showed how an off-lease Model 3 would set Tesla up for success using the Tesla Network. When most people think of the Tesla Network, they will most likely view it as a ridesharing service. The flexibility of robotaxis means that options not possible today will open up in the future.
Thirty-six people died in traffic crashes in Washington, D.C., last year, a 20% increase from 2017. Eight people, six of whom were walking or biking, have already been killed this year, prompting a major public rally just two weeks ago. Residents are angry that the city isn’t succeeding in curbing road deaths, despite the fact that Mayor Muriel Bowser committed to end traffic fatalities entirely by 2024.
The largest bus operator in the Nordic region has ordered an additional 20 electric buses from BYD, bringing its total orders from the new energy company to 138.
